Dmitrii the Honourable

Dmitrii the Honourable (1232-) was the Grand Duke of Novgorod from 1279. He was the first son of Alexander Nevski and Khristina of Novgorod.

Biography
Dmitrii the Honourable was the son of Alexander Nevski and Khristina of Novgorod, and served as the Governor of Smolensk for Novgorod. During his early years as a commander in the 1250s, he fought against rebels to the south of Smolensk, taking over much of the lands of Belarus and Ukraine from rebels. In 1264, he captured the great city of Kiev from the Mongol Empire, liberating its Russian subjects from the Islamic foreign Mongolians.

He took over much of the Mongol Empire's lands in the south, and proceeded to take control of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's lands in Ukraine, formerly Mongolian holdings that were captured. When his father died in 1279, Dmitrii was on campaign against the Lithuanians, and he became the Grand Duke while away from home.